indeed they deserve For as the Devil used of old in his Oracles so they use ambiguous expressions which admit of a double construction and men interpret them according to their events they add also many ifs and cautions to their predictions whereby if the event answer not their prediction they do with the vulgar avoid the shame of it but if it fall out right they go about with credit Fourthly It s the opinion of judicious Divines that much of that truth that is in their predictions is from the assistance of the Devil who either by an open contract or else in a voluntary secret way insinuates himself to draw on a league and assists them with his knowledge and guesses which exceed any mans Hence Saint Augustine Mr. Perkins and others tell us of conscientious men who have been glad to leave off this study because of the uncertainty they have found in the Rules of it And Satan may help curious heads in this way because besides his own knowledge which enables him oft-times to guesse shrewdly he may be permitted by God in a judiciary way to be a true Spirit in the mouth of liars as he was a lying spirit in the mouth of Ahabs Prophets See for it Deut 13. 1 2 3 4 5. Object But it s said Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians Acts 7. 22. and Daniel of the Caldeans Dan. 1. 17 20. and Astrology was part of that Learning and therefore its lawful or they learned an unlawful Art Answ. There be two things in Astrology 1. The Theory 2. The Practise Now many have studied the Theory that have renounced the practise finding that nothing could be done by it in a natural way And it s very probable that all the Learning that these holy men had in this art if they had any was but in a Theoretical way there is no footstep of their practise of it in all their stories but of the contrary For we read in the second fourth and fifth Chapters of Daniel that he was never cald in with the Magicians but after them which shews that he was not of their society also when he went about searching out secrets he went not to his Books but to his Prayers not to consult with the Stars but with God as Dan. 2. 17 c. Object But are not the Stars very powerful and causes of many strange effects and are not effects known by their causes why then may we not divine by them Answ. Though they have a great influence upon inferiour bodies yet we cannot divine by them touching humain affairs For 1. They cannot act but within their own sphear which is in corporeal things but humane affairs though acted by mens bodies yet they are guided by their spirits which in nature are out of the Sphere of the Heavens operation and their successes and miscarriages are from divine providence therefore whatever may be prognosticated by them concerning elementary bodies yet for men their vertue is so far short in working on them that it can give no light to judge of their future affairs 2. Where the power of working is acknowledged yet our knowledge of their vertues and operations is so dim that we cannot divine by it For the influences of all or most of the stars are unknown to us and when all of them have their influences conjoyned who can say this effect is from the vertue of this star and not from another A sixth Argument to prove that Astrological predictions ought neither to be practised countenanced or tolerated is this That which most godly and learned men upon experience have renounced and repented of that is neither to be practised countenanced nor tolerated But godly men have renounced and repented of their study of Astrology therefore c. The Minor is thus proved St. Augustine the glory of his age for piety learning and solid judgment confesses that he had been adicted to these vain studies But by the grace of God he afterward renounced them as an art condemned by true piety affirming that it was a great errour a great madnesse and a suspition that might easily be refelled He also mentions another on Psal. 63. that repented of and renounced this wicked Art as being as bad as Paganism and Judaism Aug. de Doct. Christ l. 2. c. 21. So saith holy Mr. Perkins I long studied this art and was never quiet till I had seen all the secrets of it But at length it pleased God to lay before me the prophanenesse of it nay I dare boldly say Idolatry although it be covered with fair and golden shews therefore that which I speak with grief I desire thee to note with some attention Mr. Briggs also somtimes Geometry-Reader at Oxford a man eminent for piety and his skill in the Mathemeticks upon a question moved to him by my author touching Judicial Astrology told him that when he went first to Cambridge he thought it a brave thing to be of Gods counsel to foresee and foretel secrets resolving to attain to that skill whatever labour it cost him so accordingly after a while he fell upon the study of the Mathematicks laying good foundation by going through Arithmetick Geometry and Astronomy not resting till he attained exactnesse therein Then he fell upon Judicial Astrology But there he found his expectation wholly frustrate for there was no certainty in the Rules of it Having therefore tired body and wits in vain he at last repaired to a man in Cambridge famous in that art and a maker of Prognostications to whom he bemoaned himself for that he had bestowed so much pains to be an expert Astrologer but the uncertainty of its Rules did now deceive his hopes whereto the Astrologer replied that the Rules of that Art were uncertain indeed neither was there any cure for it Whereupon Mr. Briggs left that study Yea he affirmed that he would undertake to the skilfullest Astrologer in the world that let him setdown any conclusion touching either man or State yea or weather and he would prove that it would fall out so and that it would not fall out so from their own Rules and Principles He said also that his opinion was that they that addicted themselves to the practise of divining Astrology the Devil did at first lend his secret assistance and at length by degrees if God prevented not entice them into a contract Quest But who may be said to practise this unlawful Art Answ. First All such as calculate mens nativities and thereby divine what their condition shall be whether good or bad such also as by the stars take upon them to foretell the successe of particular enterprises such also as erect figures to find out things lost and such Almanack-makers as take upon them to foretel future contingents as what weather it will be every day c. Quest Who be the countenancers of this unlawful Art Answ. First such as go to them to have their nativities calculated to know their
Fortunes as they call it or that seek to them for things lost c. Secondly Such as buy or read their Books unlesse it be with a purpose to confute them This is to go a whoring after them forbidden Lev. 20. 6. Thirdly Such as believe their predictions and are affected with joy or sorrow as they prognosticate good or bad Fourthly Such as talk of their predictions as things that have somthing in them and that they are not to be contemned Fifthly By applauding their predictions applying them to other events Quest How and when are Astrologers tolerated Answ. First When their Books are licensed or not prohibited when they are suffered to go abroad and not suppressed Secondly When the Astrologers themselves are suffered to go unpunished who do so cheat and delude the people When Ministers hold their tongues and preach not against them nor confute their lying vanities and when Magistrates hold their hands and punish them not Or when there are no Laws made against them or if made yet not executed Geree's Astrologomastix Quest How many sorts of foretelling things are there Answ. Three 1. Divine such as are by God himself or by the Prophets inspired by him Secondly Humane and natural which are from natural causes to their natural effects Thus the Astronomer may foretel the Eclipses The Physitian the effects of some diseases Of which sort are politick predictions which wise men can somtimes presage about Common-wealths though indeed these are but conjectures Thirdly Diabolical which are by Gods just judgment suffered to be upon a people and these are either by the Devil or by his instruments as Witches Sorcerers Astrologirs c Quest Are these Diabolical predictions lawful Answ. No For 1. It is only the property of God and of the Scriptures to foretel things to come and therefore such Astrologers as take upon them to foretel things not natural but voluntary and such as are meerly subject to mens wills do not only undertake a vain rash and false thing but that also which is very abominable and wicked Secondly It hath been the Devils way alwaies to disturb the Church and to endeavour the damnation of many mens souls by making them credulous in these things And as Christ hath set in his Church Pastors and Teachers to instruct them in the way to Heaven so the Devil hath raised his Witches Sorcerers Soothsayers and Astrologers to seduce the world out of the right way As Cardan who rose to that height of impiety as to calculate Christs birth and made his power to work miracles to flow from the influence of the stars under which he was born Others have been bad though not so bad as Petrus de Aliaco who thought that the time of Christs birth might have been foretold by the stars and Kepler contends that those Wise men by the Rules of Astrology might have presaged not only some strange event but the birth of some great Monarch as if Christ were not born after an extraordinary and miraculous manner I deny not but that the Heavens have influences upon mens Bodies hence that man possessed with a Devil was said to be lunatick probably because the Devil took the opportunity at that time of the Moon wherein humours do most abound then to disturb and distract him but the Heavens were never made for Books to reveal what should come to passe Thirdly Witches Sorcerers and Astrologers are oft condemned in Scripture as Lev. 19. 26. and 20. 27 Deut. 10. 11. c. Isa. 45. 12. c. Besides all the Fathers speak with much vehemency against them Many Councels have condemned them yea divers of the wiser fort of Heathens have cried out upon them Tully wrote several books de divinatione condemning such Diviners Instancing that before a great battel the Mice had gnawn the Buckler of a Souldier whereupon the Soothsayer concluded that that war should be fatal and unlucky as if saith Tully because mice did gnaw some books that I have of Plato's De Republica therefore I should conclude that our Common-wealth shall be destroyed And we read Acts 19. 19. of many who being converted brought their books about such curious arts and burnt them We may read more hereof in Perrâ—rius Spanhemius Zanchy and others Fourthly If the Heavens were true and proper causes or necessary signs yet no man could certainly prognosticate any thing by them because no man knowes the number nor the vertue and efficacy of the stars The Scripture makes it peculiar to God only to know the stars and to call them by their names but if any man could certainly divine by the stars he must know their number activity and influence yea and the degree of their activity without which they cannot but grossely erre Fifthly If the Heavens be Causes yet they are only universal causes now from an universal indeterminate cause there cannot be any special particular effect foretold for besides universal causes all particular inferiour causes which are many and uncertain must be known also Sixthly If Astrological Predictions were allowed it would bring in a contempt of God and flat Atheism into the word The Scripture carries us out to God in all things to his Wisdom Power Justice c. But these would bind us to the Planets yea by this means also the Scripture would be despised and laid aside and all prophanenesse would be introduced thereby and every one would excuse his vices with How could I help it seeing I am born under such a Star As St. Augustine tels us of the servant of a certain Astrologer who having robbed his Master his Master went about to correct him for it whereupon he cried out that he could not help it for he was born under Mercury and the Astrologers say that such as are born under that Planet are given to stealing and thus he silenced his Master by the Rules of his own Art Object But we see that many times they foretel the Truth Answ. First And many more prove false and untrue and if one thing fall out true it s more observed than a hundred things that prove false Besides when they foretel many things its hard if some one at least prove not true A blind man that shoots many arrows may chance with one to hit the Mark Secondly If such things as they foretel do come to passe it s either from their expresse or vertual contract with the Devil And if not so yet as St. Augustine observes it s a just judgment of God upon thee that thou shouldst have wherewith to stumble and fall and undo thy self as Deut. 13. 1 c. Thus a wicked Prophet may foretel that which comes to passe And why God doth it to prove and try you See Mr. An. Burges on John p. 396. Quest What use may we make of this which hath been said Answ. First Let all be perswaded to flee the study and to abandon the practise of this black art The Scripture condemns it as abomination to the Lord Reason
Gods works is a sinful omission condemned Isa. 5. 12. and the Apostle is as severe against every one that withdraws from Christ Col. 2. 8 18 19. Now that these Prognosticators withdraw mens minds from Christ may be gathered from that opposition that is put between them by Moses Deut. 18. 10. to 16. where they must not hearken to Sorcerers that they may hearken to Christ and whilst men ascribe successes good or bad to the Stars they withdraw their mindes from beholding God in his works Fourthly That which is false delusive uncertain is not to be practised countenanced or tolerated but such is foretelling things by the Stars therefore c. That they are false is clear Isa. 44. 15. That frustrateth the tokens of the Lyars and makes the Diviners mad If they speak true at any time it 's more by hap than skill For though Eclipses of the Sun and Moon and Conjunction of other Planets may be certainly foreknown yet there is no such certainty of the effects that we may divine thereby for they are but general partial and remote causes of Events in States and affairs of men and there is no certain connex on between Causes general partial and remote and their Effects Besides those Effects which depend on other Causes upon which the Heavens have either none or no direct power cannot be certainly known by the Positions of the Heavens but so it is with humane affairs therefore the affairs of men depend principally on Gods Providence and under him on the wills and minds of men That Gods Providence ordereth things concerning Men and States is proved Eph. 1. 11. He worketh all things after the counsel of his own will and that not alwaies according to the ordinary disposition of second Causes but turning and over-ruling things in a secret way beyond the intentions of men and the ordinary vertue of second Causes so we see in Rehoboams folly 2 Chron. 10. 15. Amaziah's frowardnesse 2 Chron. 25. 10. Hence Eccles. 9. 11. The race is not to the swift c. and Psal. 75. 4. c. Promotion cometh neither from the East c. But God is Judge he pulls down one and sets up another Again the Stars have no power over mens souls and minds The Heathen could say Sapiens dominabitur Astris A wise man will rule over the Stars At the most that which they have is but by way of inclination which grace education civil wisdom and many other things may oversway Besides the affairs of men and Nations are prospered and blasted not according to the use of natural means but according to their carriage towards God as they are sinful or obedient penitent or impenitent and men act in these moral performances as they are assisted or deserted by God for which see Isa. 6. 9. c. Ezek. 36. 25 26 33 34. Object But though they be not certain Causes may they not be certain Signs of things to come Answ. No for if they be signs fore-shewing events they must either be so by nature as smoak is a sign of fire or by institution as an Ivy-bush is a sign of Wine to be sold but they are so in neither of these senses therefore they cannot be natural signs because there is no natural connexion between the Constellations and humane Events and whereas it 's said Gen. 1. 14. Let them be for signs and for seasons for daies and for years the meaning is they are signs for the things which they cause as the seasons of the year which they do both make and signifie or if they should be granted in general to be signs yet could we not certainly prognosticate any thing by them except we had particular Comments on them to declare what they signifie either by divine revelation or by solid experience but no such Comment is to be had and therefore we have no certain fore-knowledge by them Divine revelation is not pretended to and a certain experience we have not for experience ariseth from often observing the same thing as a Physitian knows by experience that Rubarb purges Choler because he hath often tried it and ever finds it so but we can have no such experience of the effect of the Stars 1. Because the Heavens do scarce ever return to the same Position for though some great Conjunctions be the same yet there are infinite numbers of Stars which also have their influences that agree not with and so may vary the effects of the other 2. When Events follow these Conjunctions it cannot certainly be known that they are the effects of them for that many things fall out together accidentally without connexion or dependance one upon another 3. We see experience is uncertain for that Twins born under the same constellation differ extreamly in disposition and event as we see in Esau and Jacob And whereas they say that by reason of the swift motions of the Heavens a little time makes a great difference in their Position Saint Austin answers that yet their conceptions were both in an instant though their birth differed a little and Ludovicus Vives adds that this overthrowes all certainty of divining by the Stars because by reason of the swiftnesse of their motion they suddenly alter their positions so that a man can never give an exact judgment of any birth because he cannot exactly know the minute of his nativity 5. Identity of effects doth not only depend upon the efficient but the matter also so that if we could be sure that the Position of the Heavens were the same as they were a hundred years ago yet the same events will not follow because of the difference of men in divers ages and climates of divers tempers educations moral and intellectual principles c. and why may not the influence of the stars produce divers effects upon men of divers dispositions as we see a hen somtimes hatches chickens other times ducks partridges c. because of different eggs set under her 5. Arg. That which nourisheth vain and forbidden hopes and fears is not to be practised countenanced or tolerated but so do Astrological predictions therefore c. Fear and hope by reason of the signs of heaven is forbidden Jer. 10. 2. Learn not the way of the Heathen neither be dismayed at the signs of heaven for the Heathen are dismayed at them Object But Astrologers oft hit right in their predictions therefore it seems there is certainty in their Art Answ. First Do Astrologers tell right somtimes so do Witches yet all confesse that it is by the help of the Devil and therefore unlawful Secondly Astrologers do also many times misse in their predictions For Isa. 44. 25. The tokens of these liars are frustrated Only this favour they find amongst the multitude that their mistakes are not regarded though they be many their predictions that fall out right are observed and remembred though they be few Thirdly More is ascribed to Astrologers in point of truth from some tricks they use than
witnesses against it as being irrational and uncertain There is vanity in it danger by it Satan is a subtil Serpent and insinuates into many this way before they be-aware Find you pleasure in it It s but a sweet poyson Think you to get honour by it you may be applauded by vain men but are disallowed by God Perkins reckons it up amongst the kinds of witchcraft Saint Austin counts it ungodly dotage and inconsistent with Christianity Doth profit entice you It s but Balaams gain the wages of iniquity money that will perish with you Secondly If notwithstanding all that can be said Astrologers will persist in their wicked practise all should take heed of countenancing them lest partaking of their sins they partake in their plagues Have therefore no fellowship with these unfruitful works of darknesse abhor all commerce with and resort to such persons flee from them as from the devil himself thou breakest thy Baptismal Vow if thou renouncest not such Diabolical practises Shall we countenance what God abominates and strengthen men in that which makes both them and the Land liable to wrath Let them not have the countenance of thy cost to buy them nor of thy time to read them no of thy tongue to mention or applaud them nor of thy affections to fear hope or rejoyce in any thing they say Forbidden Jer. 10. 2 3. If there were no buyers of such Almanacks there would be no Sellers and if there were no Sellers there would be no Makers at least no Publishers of such lying vanities and truly if the Astrologer be guilty the Buyer and Reader cannot be innocent God hath forbidden seeking to such under a grievous penalty Lev. 20. 6 I will even set my face against that soul and will cut him off from amongst my people Indeed learned men have observed that such delusions have prevailed amongst Popish and anabaptistical spirits But that England should countenance such and in a time of Reformation Oh let us blush for shame c. How often said Tully did I hear such men promise Pompey and Caesar that they should live long and die a peaceable death whereas both of them not long after were murdered And Cornelius à Lapide the Jesuit in his Comment on Acts 19. bewaileth that whilst he was at Rome they were so much given to this wickednesse whilest the Astrologers promised to some long life to others a Cardinalship to others the Popedom and yet at last all were miserably deluded Thirdly If Astrologers should be tolerated then they which are in authority are to be entreated First That their books be not suffered so ordinarily to pass the Press O how doth the world dote upon them I have been credibly informed that neer thirty thousand of Lillies Almanacks have been vended in a year If devout men burnt their own books of this kind how should devout Governours see to the burning of such Books sure if those Books deserve the fire which derogate from the honour of Princes how much more such as withdraw the minds and hearts of men from God It were well if Astrologers were put into the same Catalogue with other Sorcerers in the Statute of the first of King James chap. 20. and to suffer the same punishment with the other for the Scripture makes them birds of a Feather c. See as before Quest But may we not use Charms wherein there are none out good words Answ. No It s the usual craft of Saran to present things and waies in themselves indifferent to silly minds which consider not that the harm doth not consist in using such words and actions but in ascribing to them an unnatural vertue without the warrant of God who is the Master of nature Quest Is it not lawful to exquire of Astrologers after things to come Answ. Certainly since God hath hidden the future time from us to go about to lay it open is a work proper to the profest Undoer of Gods words Quest Why may we not enquire after future times Answ. Curiosity to know the future carrieth many so far as to make a Covenant with the Devil who yet stands not so much upon his points as to refuse to be consulted with by those that have made no Covenant with him No doubt but his pride is tickled with a mischievous delight when he sees men seeking to him for that which is proper to God and thereby yielding him Divine service Which service that he may receive in a hidden way from the finer sort of wits he hath devised some seeming sublime Divinations perswading them that the decree of God about humane events is written in the motions and several aspects of the stars and that therefore this kind of Divination is lawful yea Divine Quest What are the evils that proceed from hence Answ. First They are innumerable For 1. That silly reverence which vulgar persons give to these Predictions makes them wild and sets them upon the fulfilling of them because they esteem them unavoidable Secondly The worst evil is that thereby mans mind which ought to dwell at home is transported out of himself and in stead of reposing upon the wisdom and love of God is suspended upon the Dragons Tail and the ascendent 〈…〉 Horoscope Thirdly It cuts in sunder the very sinews of industry and makes men idle greedy and inconsiderate The Histories of the Greek Emperors Alexius and Manuel are lamentable examples how credulous persons are undone by the impostures of Astrologers when they expect from the stars those successes which should have been wrought out by Piety Prudence and Valour Quest What further reason is there against these Astrological Predictions Answ. Consider that all affirmation is grounded either upon Reason or Authority The assertions of Judiciary Astrology are of the last kind For no reason can be given of their Maximes Now the authority upon which these Maximes are grounded must either be Divine or Humane or Devilish They are not grounded upon Divine authority but are expresly forbidden by it Jer. 10. 2. Isa. 47. 13. And humane authority in this case is of no weight for who hath given power to men to dispose of the several Offices and Pre-eminencies of Celestial bodies It remains then that these Maximes are grounded upon Diabolical authority In brief since they are not grounded upon reason either they are forged by men or delivered by revelation and if that revelation comes not from God it must needs come from the Devil Dr. du Moulin of Moulin of Contentment The Fundamental Maxims of Judicial Astrology examined and answered THE first general maxime whereby Astrologers endeavour to gain credit and reputation to their documents is what all men readily confesse viz. that the Stars are not meer signs but also natural causes of very many effects as if men were bound to admit the same Position for truth concerning other effects which they boast the divination of aforehand It is well known say they that inferiour natures are not subjected to superiour
in vain since they are so manifestly cherished moved and governed by them That the Sun is the cause of light and heat and that by its accesse and recesse annually it doth introduce the Series and Vicissitude of seasons that it doth procreate Plants and Animals and in particular men according to that common saying Sol homo generant hominem that it doth extract Vapours from the earth which become the matter of rain of winds and the like That the Moon doth fill and empty all shel-fish the bones of animals the brains of Conies and hath great power over all moist bodies and especially the Sea whose Tides are conformed to her Motion Lastly That there are certain influences by which not only these two principal Luminaries but also the other lesser ones exercise their vertues upon sublunary bodies For since the stars ought not to be conceived idle and ineffectual and that there are some certain effects which cannot be referred to any other causes but them as the critical mutations of diseases and the inequality of seasons c. And this is the sum of what our Astrologers alledge for support of their pretence and whereby they study to endear their art and prepare the minds of men for the more smooth and easie admission of what they afterward impose with prodigious confidence and indeed what they urge concerning the Sun and Moon seems so plausible that judicious men at first are drawn diligently to listen unto what they say concerning that thinking they would proceed to prove the rest of their suppositions with the like evidence not suspecting that upon such specious foundations they should so soon erect nothing but ridiculous Fables and wild absurdities But alas how far are they from making the members of their artificial body respondent to the head of it but they have no sooner laid down this ground but with admiration we may see they instantly run out to such super-structures which have no solidity nor strength either from experience or reason Indeed I cannot but wonder and blush when I observe the first writers of this art Ptolomy Fermicus and Manilius after they have begun their discourses seriously and with gravity beseeming Philosophers and men professing the severity of reason in a moment to fall upon meer childish toyes and old wives dreams It is very dishonourable for learned men by the pretext of such Positions as are generally confessed so to impose upon the credulity of their Readers and would make them believe that these fopperies which they intend to foist in afterwards were of the same evidence and certainty with the premises Yea it is not only dishonourable but odious and detestable to delude men by drawing such a consequence as really is no consequence that the Sun doth vary the seasons of the year and the Moon fatten shell-fish in her Full and make them lean in her Wane this common experience will aver for a truth but doth experience attest the like of the twelve Signes in the Zodiack and of their several degrees and the Planets positions in the twelve Houses with their aspects one towards the other adding the influence of the fixed Stars to them Certainly no nor can any of our Astrologers by observation shew any one of the least effects that ought to be referred to this or that particular Constellation or Star rather than to any other cause that is sublunary What then have they any reason to flee unto No doubtlesse none at all since all reason resteth on experience and of that here can be none and all that can be inserted is this that each Luminary being a Lucid Body doth in proportion to his Orbe enlighten warm and work such effects as arise from such light and heat I add that forasmuch as the Stars are general Causes only in respect of sublunary things I may well demand a reason why any singular effect may not be ascribed to some singular cause here below where are such multitudes of natural and convenient Actives and Passives rather than to those remote ones the Planets and fixt Stars Instance When we give an account of the causes of odours in compound Ointments we refer one kind of smell to the Roses another to Jasmine a third to the Orange flowers and no particular smell to the Oyl which is the common matter of the composition and the cause of the fragrancy neither to one nor to the other of the Ingredients as for example in a Garden this Plant groweth here and not there and this there and not here we refer it to their seeds which were sown in those places where each one groweth not to the water where with they are irrigated which is only a general cause of the growth of the Plants and indifferent nourishment to each sort So are we to Philosophise concerning those effects that are ascribed to Heavenly Bodies For since the heat of the Sun for instance is general why it should harden clay and soften wax is to be referred to the different dispositions of those bodies not to any various efficacy in the Suns heat and why the Sun produceth a Plant in this place and not an animal an animal in another place and not a Plant this is to be referred likewise to the vertue of the seed which is plantary in one place and animal in another The same may be said of other things that arise from the influence of the Suns heat as for example the Sun raiseth Vapours from this part of the Earth and not from another because in one part is moisture in another none One year it raiseth more vapours than in another because one year yields more moisture than another one year the exhalations are healthy and good another infectious and Pestilential because of the different matter from which they are drawn Hence we learn that since it is besides all reason when there may be many causes of any particular effect without the concurrence of all which that effect will not follow for us to think it sufficient to our Prognostication of that effect absolutely and positively that we know any one of all these various causes that must concur to the production thereof it must be likewise besides all reason when besides the stars there are other the Inferiour causes that must conspire to the production of particular Effects for any man to foretell the contingency of those effects only because he knows but generally the influx of the stars but not any of the other inferiour particular causes that are required thereunto again when there are some effects which have no dependance at all or what is exceedingly obscure upon the stars but a manifest and necessary dependance upon sublunary causes I would willingly know what reason there is why we should not rather have recourse to those sublunary and particular causes than to those superlunary and general ones the stars thus when grounds manured and enriched by compost do yield more plentiful crops of come than before It